Nguyen Van Lang, Deputy Minister of Science and Technology and head of the Hoa Lac Hi-tech Zone Management Board talked about the initial results in the zone’s development plan and its future tasks during an interview granted to VOV.

Following are the excerpts from the interview 

VOV: What is your assessment of the zone’s development in 2007?

Mr Lang: 2007 marked the restart of construction projects at the zone following Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s visit to Japan in August 2006. The most impressive progress was made in land clearance for the construction of infrastructure facilities. With a greater effort by concerned parties, the total acreage of the cleared land reached nearly 500ha by the end of 2007 compared to only 200ha in 1997. We began building a number of resettlement areas with the aim of raising the figure to 800ha by the end of 2008.

Never before has the zone made such great strides in capital construction investment. About VND100 billion has been invested in building major infrastructure facilities such as roads, water and power supplies and waste water treatment system, giving the zone a new facelift.

In 2007 the zone attracted about 500 foreign investors, mostly from Japan, the United States and the Republic of Korea. The Zone’s Management Board has licensed projects worth up to US$200 million and is considering projects valued at US$600 million in total. In the first quarter of 2008 we plan to license projects capitalised at millions of US dollars for hi-tech and software manufacturing projects.

Last year, the zone restructured its organisation and simplified administrative procedures in line with the “one-stop-shop” mechanism, including the application of “one seal” and “one signature”.

Last but not least, a detailed master plan to build the Hoa Lac Hi-tech Zone on an area of 1,600ha was completed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) under the framework of cooperation agreements signed between the governments of Vietnam and Japan. The master plan was submitted to the Prime Minister for approval.

VOV: Could you  further elaborate on the development of the zone in 2008?

Mr Lang: We will propose that the Prime Minister approve the master plan, creating conditions for the zone to develop in the long term. In 2008 we plan to pour an additional VND200 billion into infrastructure construction, and hope to receive further official development assistance (ODA) capital from Japan by the end of the year in this field. We are confident that functional areas of the zone will be detailed and approved in 2008. Accordingly several major areas such as the Hi-tech Industrial Area, the Software Park, the Training Centre and the Technology and Business Incubators Area will get off the ground soon. If the construction of these projects is right on schedule, thousands of students and IT programmers will be able to study and work in the zone in 2009. This means we will need between US$400-500 million for these projects in 2008.

VOV: What will you do to attract investors and human resources to the zone?

Mr Lang: We cannot complete the work without cooperation and support from economic groups and relevant agencies which are assigned by the Government to develop transport, water and power supplies and communications systems in the zone. We have created the best possible conditions for investors by accelerating the land clearance, building infrastructure facilities and applying the “one-stop-shop’ mechanism in dealing with administrative procedures, particularly via the Internet. We began to build several community projects such as the residential areas and entertainment centres and developing other services such as telecommunications for investors.

VOV: What will the zone look like in the future?

Mr Lang: If the master plan is approved, the zone will have an Industrial Hi-tech Area, an area for universities and training centres, a software park that doubles the Quang Trung Software Park’s acreage in Ho Chi Minh City, a Technology and Business Incubators Area, an entertainment area with a golf course, a service area and residential areas with villas for medium- and high income earners. In general, the zone will look like a small satellite city of Hanoi, and together with National University of Hanoi and adjacent areas, it will create a new urban area in the western part of the capital city. Japan has planned to complete construction work by 2015, but we are determined to complete it ahead of schedule.